Late last Friday afternoon, Clear The Bench Colorado was stunned by the news that Administrative Law Judge Robert Spencer (as an executive branch employee, answerable to the governor and not subject to a retention vote himself) set aside the documentary evidence, testimony by Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold along with the Elections Division director at the Colorado Secretary of State’s office AND the clear letter of the law to rule in favor of “Colorado Ethics Watch” (CEW, pronounced “sue” – it’s what they do) in what the same judge had earlier characterized as a “frivolous, groundless, & vexatious” attack (er, “campaign finance complaint”).

Despite reliance on over a year’s worth of guidance issued by the office of Secretary of State (as confirmed in numerous documents and in witness testimony provided in hearings on 15 September) reached after “numerous” internal policy meetings and much research that Clear The Bench Colorado was, is, and ought to be properly characterized as an “Issue Committee” under campaign finance rules; CTBC’s scrupulous compliance with all rules, regulations, and reporting requirements for over a year; and dismissal of CEW’s earlier complaint as “frivolous, groundless, and vexatious” – the judge changed course and found for CEW in their latest round of attacks, changing the rules in the final quarter of play.

Changing the rules at such a late date – mail ballots go out at the same time Clear The Bench Colorado has been directed to re-file as a political committee – and in direct contravention of the guidance upon which CTBC has relied for well over a year makes a mockery of the process of citizen civic engagement. As noted by Clear The Bench Colorado lead attorney Scott Gessler,

“That’s just crazy, that ruling,” said Gessler. “What kind of crazy system is that, when you can’t trust what the Secretary of State tells you? [This ruling] means you have to hire a lawyer to do anything- to get involved at all in the political process.” (Colorado Independent, 9/25/2010)

From documentation provided by the office of Secretary of State:

Colorado campaign finance and Judicial retention

While judges are considered “candidates” for the purpose of campaign finance law in Art. XXVIII Sec. 2(2) of the Colorado Constitution, the question of the retention of a judge is a yes-or-no question. Therefore, a committee organized for the purpose of advocating the retention or removal of a judge is advocating for a yes or no vote on that question, rather than advocating for the election or defeat of a candidate. A committee organized for such a purpose is akin to a committee advocating for (or against) the recall of an elected official, which would register an issue committee under 1-45-108(6), C.R.S. To that end, a committee established for the purpose of supporting or opposing the retention of a judge or judges is properly registered as an issue committee for campaign finance purposes. Such an entity would not be considered a political committee, because political committees are established for the purpose of “support[ing] or oppos[ing] the nomination or election of one or more candidates” (Art. XXVII Sec. 2(12)(a)). [emphasis added]

Adding insult to injury, the judge’s ruling is granting “Colorado Ethics Watch” (CEW, pronounced “sue” – it’s what they do) more time to pay Clear The Bench Colorado what they’ve owed since July than time for Clear The Bench Colorado to re-file under “political committee” status or to appeal the ruling.

Naturally, Colorado Ethics Watch” (CEW, pronounced “sue” – it’s what they do) is trumpeting the ruling as a great victory, declaring in a press release Friday:

“The law does not permit a wealthy few to unduly influence the judicial retention process through large contributions against judges and justices whose rulings they don’t like. Ethics Watch prevailed today in setting precedent to keep big money out of judicial elections…”

Ironically, the ruling “achieves” the exact opposite: big-money special interests will now be more prone to attempt to influence judicial retention elections behind the scenes, using vehicles other than the open and accountable “Issue Committee” organization types such as Clear The Bench Colorado.

In fact, big-money legal establishment special-interest groups are already active this year in promoting a “retain” vote for judicial incumbents (including, prominently, the three Colorado Supreme Court justices appearing on the ballot this year). They’re just significantly less honest about their intentions…

In a campaign that has been conspicuous for its LACK of big-money interests and “large contributions” (Toro is whining about two – TWO! – contributions exceeding $500), acting with complete transparency and absolute accountability to educate voters as to their right to hold judicial incumbents accountable for their performance in office, and to shed light on the records of judicial incumbents at the highest levels in order to provide substantive information on which voters can base an informed decision, CEW’s attacks (and the judge’s ruling in this case) do the Colorado electorate a great disservice.

CEW’s Toro is right about one thing: “Judges are… subject to corruption” via the influence of big-money special interests keeping them in office.

The expenditure of tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) by legal establishment special-interest groups comprised of the very lawyers appearing before the judges they are supporting in office is much more likely to exert “undue influence” and raise the potential for “quid pro quo” corruption.

The Colorado Bar Association (COBAR) has already spent over $50,000 this last month (by their own admission) joining three other legal establishment special-interest groups (likely spending a similar amount, although the exact figures have not been made publicly available) in mounting an “education” campaign (electioneering without using the “magic words” of “vote yes” or “vote NO“) to prop up incumbent judges and justices. In one month alone, they’ve spent more than CTBC has in a year. Combined, these special interests are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in television, radio, and print ads providing “nonpartisan information about the performance of judges seeking retention” that, curiously, ALL supports a “retain” vote.

Ironically, these legal special-interest efforts come on top of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars used to produce and distribute the one-sided and shallow “evaluations” perpetrated by the (taxpayer-funded) commissions on judicial performance evaluation – which, again, advocate 100% of the time to “retain” Colorado Supreme Court justices in office.

NONE of these expenditures – hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote the retention of judicial incumbents in office – are transparent and accountable to the public.

Did Friday’s ruling really succeed in “setting precedent to keep big money out of judicial elections…”?

Hardly. It just provided cover for the big money that’s already comfortably ensconced in the process – erecting additional roadblocks to shedding light on the fact, and restoring accountability to the judiciary.

Clear The Bench Colorado has been consistently open, honest, and above-board in educating the public, and has scrupulously followed the rules under Colorado campaign finance laws for well over a year. Forcing CTBC to re-file under a different set of rules – changed in the final quarter – makes a mockery of justice.

Yet another reason that now more than ever – it’s time to Clear The Bench, Colorado!

Base requires make, model, serial number and who owns them

Fort Hood soldiers told to list private weapons

Base requires make, model, serial number and who owns them

The U.S. Army command at Fort Hood, where Muslim psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly shot and killed 13 people and an unborn child, now is demanding that its soldiers confess whether they have any guns in their off-base homes, what kind of guns they are and what are their serial numbers.

According to Christopher Haug Sr., the chief of media relations for Fort Hood, officials at the base issued an “operation order” that directed commanders “to reinforce Soldier Health and Wellness on Sept. 27.”

Today was sight in day at our local range, and, I just happened to have put together some Elk fodder for the Marlin XL7. Now, 270 Winchesters are known for fine accurate and for being pretty picky when it comes to what you feed them.The brand doesn’t seem to matter, you just have to hunt for the right load combination and or factory ammunition. Which can get pretty expensive.

To add to the confusion, brands that you think would match up sometimes don’t really function all that well. I’ve owned several Remington rifles, and, for an example; none of them shot Remington ammunition worth a hoot! They all shot extremely well using Federal products though.

My Marlin has been not to kind to Nosler bullets, which I happen to really like. But Sierra? They all seem to shoot like a dream. Since I don’t have a lot of time to work up an Elk load, I popped open the Sierra loading manual, and had a go at it. Please note that what follows is safe in my rifle, but may not be in yours. Work up loads cautiously, and never exceed maximum loads. Also, this was not really a reloading situation, as this was new unfired Remington brass.

Components are as follows. Brass, as noted above, was new unfired Remington, fully prepped including deburring the flash holes, and sizing the primer pockets. Cases were full length sized using an RCBS X-Die.

My particular rifle has a history of shooting better with the hotter loads, but I also had not tried any 150 grain bullets in it yet, so I stuck with the book recommendations. The best accuracy load was listed at 53.7 grains of powder, with the hunting load at 55.2 grains. I used Remington Core-Lokt 150 grain ammunition as a control.

The range was pretty crowded with people waiting for a shooting station, so this had to be brief. Allowing the barrel to completely cool just was not possible.

Range, 100 yards for all loads, with the temperature in the upper 70’s and the humidity was right around 50 percent according to The Weather Channel. Winds were variable, but nothing really serious, maybe an occasional gust at 10 mph. All shots were from a bench using rests, and I had the luxury of a spotter this day. 🙂

Control group: 5 rounds of Remington Core-Lokt 150 grain. After a fouling round had been shot. 1.5 inches.

The lighter Accuracy recommended load of 53.7 grains of R 22 powder came in at just under 1 inch. 🙂

The heavier charge , same bullet and powder. Came in at 1/2 inch! I am sighted three inches high at one hundred yards, and should be able to shoot using no adjustment out to 250 yards.

This gave the public the false impression that all U.S. combat forces in Iraq were being called back home and that there would be no futher U.S. involvement in fighting. Our only continued role, accodring to Obama, would be to ‘advise and assist’ the Iraqis.

But one soldier who is still in Iraq, and is still engaged in combat for the foreseeable future, exposes the Obama pronouncement as a lie.

The following is an actual email from the soldier, which has been forwarded by scores of Americans via email:

“Hey, everybody I just wanted to send a quick update and give Yall the REAL story on what’s going on over here with the troop withdrawal…..The reason I’m sending this out is because I have had a few people ask if I left Iraq early because all of the combat troops are out of Iraq and I wanted to let everyone know the real deal. It’s kind of ridiculous how the news is saying that the last of the “combat” troops are out of Iraq because of Pres Osama ( I mean Obama ). He says that it was his campaign promise. Take our Brigade for example. We were originally called a HBCT ( Heavy Brigade Combat Team). Well since Obama said he would pull all of the “combat” troops out by Aug all they did before we left was change our name from a HBCT to a AAB ( Advise and Assist Brigade ). We have the same personnel/equipment layout as before and are doing the same missions. The ONLY difference is that they changed our name from a HBCT to an AAB and that’s how he is getting away with saying that he has pulled all of the “combat” troops out. It is really ridiculous what he’s doing and he has ticked alot of people off. And it’s funny how the media is buying all of it, too. So no the last combat troops are not out of Iraq we are still here. There are other Brigades just like ours that are doing the same missions that are still over here. Sorry for going on about it but we are just sitting over here watching it and are like “You’ve got to be kidding me!” So anyway now you know the REAL story so that’s why I’m not coming back early. You have to watch those liberals, their sneaky! Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well and I’ll see you soon!”

Conservative Examiner has also learned that the White House has initiated a special ‘Honor Our Troops’ stunt in order to give Americans the impression that ‘our boys (and girls) are coming home from Iraq,’ when in fact nobody is coming home right now except for a few The troops will stay in place until next year, and even after that 50,000 of our troops will be yet in harm’s way, involved in heavy combat in their new ‘advise and assist’ mission, at least until the end of 2011.

Obama enlists scores of news outlets to tout his ‘victory’ in bringing home the troops, when in fact they are not coming home presently. Thus, the campaign is one of propaganda. And this is not even to mention that the mission in Afghanistan has been vastly expanded and intensified with no end in sight.

The mission in Iraq was a success under George W. Bush as a result of the troop surge. But Obama wishes to take the credit, although he peristently opposed the Iraqi mission from day one. He claims, however, that he supported the Afghan mission, which again is a questionable claim, given that Bob Woodward in his latest book indicates that Obama refuses to use the word ‘victory’ in the mission, and the White House staff had severe misgivings about continuing the campaign–amid much infighting among the Obama team.

Thus, it is ever more apparent with each passing day that the current occupant of the White House cannot be trusted in any fashion. Too many lies, too many misleading statements, and too many empty promises never fulfilled.

With friends like these… “People need to shake off this lethargy. People need to buck up. … If people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren’t serious in the first place. … It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this midterm election. … The idea that we’ve got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible.” –Barack Obama hammering his own base in an interview with Rolling Stone

“[I want to] remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives. This president has done an incredible job. He’s kept his promises.” –Joe Biden on the same talking points

“And so those who don’t get — didn’t get everything they wanted, it’s time to just buck up here, understand that we can make things better, continue to move forward and — but not yield the playing field to those folks who are against everything that we stand for in terms of the initiatives we put forward.” –Joe Biden

“We have an electorate that doesn’t always pay that much attention to what’s going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what’s happening.” –Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), another snotty elitist lecturing voters

The GOP’s best friend: “[I]f we allow this to be a referendum on whether people are happy where they are now, we’ll lose.” –Joe Biden

But on the other hand: “I guarantee you we’re going to have a majority in the House and a majority in the Senate. I absolutely believe that.” –Biden

Patronizing: “There are strains in the Tea Party that are troubled by what they saw as a series of instances in which the middle-class and working-class people have been abused or hurt by special interests and Washington, but their anger is misdirected.” –Barack Obama

“[Fox News has] a point of view that I disagree with. It’s a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world.” –Obama in the Rolling Stone interview

On fiscal responsibility: “What I’m seeing out of the Republican leadership over the last several years has been a set of policies that are just irresponsible, and we saw in their Pledge to America a similar set of irresponsible policies. … [Although GOP leaders] say they want to balance the budget, they propose $4 trillion worth of tax cuts and $16 billion in spending cuts, and then they say we’re going to somehow magically balance the budget. That’s not a serious approach.” –Barack Obama, who must consider Republicans amateurs when it comes to blowing money.

California, my state of birth… (Oceanside, California, Camp Pendleton.) Somehow, survived the years that this God forsaken idiot was Governor there. Jerry Brown, caused, via his leftist policy’s and non-leadership; The worst times that the Golden State had ever been through. PERIOD!

He kissed ass to the Unions, to the illegal immigrants, raised taxes beyond belief, held gun owners in contempt, and pissed on the California Constitution as well as the Constitution of the United States of America so many times that I will not even bother with citation! He makes the epic failure obama look like a lightweight!

Now, to be honest? I don’t know an awful lot about Meg Whitman. But what I do know, is that Jerry Brown, is nothing at all like his Father.

“As Democrats head for what promises to be a midterm election fiasco of historic proportions, a pre-emptive excuse has begun to circulate: It’s all because of Citizens United. Team Donkey fans claim the Jan. 21 decision, in which the Supreme Court overturned restrictions on the political speech of corporations, triggered a flood of negative advertising by what President Obama calls ‘shadowy groups with harmless-sounding names.’ … In his weekly radio address [last] Saturday, President Obama complained about ‘special interests using front groups with misleading names’ who are saying mean things about Democrats on TV, a development he attributed to Citizens United. Yet similar complaints have been heard from both major parties in every recent election cycle. … Toward the end of his speech on Saturday, Obama accidentally told the truth. ‘You can make sure that the tens of millions of dollars spent on misleading ads do not drown out your voice,’ he said. ‘Because no matter how many ads they run — no matter how many elections they try to buy — the power to determine the fate of this country doesn’t lie in their hands. It lies in yours.’ Exactly right, Mr. President. No matter how shadowy or flush with corporate dollars an interest group is, the only thing Citizens United allowed it to do is speak. Advocacy has no impact unless it persuades people. So why not talk about the issues instead of impugning the motives of people who take a different position on them than you do?” –columnist Jacob Sullum

“The refutation of Crist, Murkowski and Castle is a wonderful thing, regardless of how it plays out in November. … In three primaries Republican voters decided they didn’t like what they saw in the three candidates presented by the establishment. In all three cases, the instincts of the voters were completely confirmed — by the subsequent actions of the hacks they drummed out of the party. Crist, Murkowski and Castle have made it abundantly clear they are devoid of anything resembling principles or party loyalty. All three have made something else clear as well: contempt for the average American has revealed itself to be far more ‘bipartisan’ than ever before. Such contempt has become so transparent and pervasive that the term ‘ruling class’ resonates like it never has: many Americans have become completely alienated from their representatives, regardless of party affiliation. Here’s a scary thought for Democrats: think what’s happening to the Republican party can’t happen to yours? Think again. A Congress with an approval rating of 23.6% while your party’s in charge can’t be reassuring. In November, if the public purges Democrats from the majority less than two years after Democrat political strategist James Carville’s proclaimed they would rule for the next forty, expect the kind of finger-pointing and blood-letting that will make the current Republican purge look tame by comparison. Americans may not agree about many things but one thing is certain: they are sick to death of selfish phonies selling themselves as ‘servants of the people.'” –columnist Arnold Ahlert

Quote of the Day: “Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes

Surely you’ve had this experience . . .

* You marshal your evidence
* You deploy powerful arguments
* And you thereby convince a friend to drop his or her support of some government policy.

But then, you don’t see your friend for a while . . .

* He or she is left for weeks or months, swimming in the river of Statist propaganda that streams from every media outlet
* So that when you meet again you find that his or her mind has snapped back to where it was before

It’s as if the two of you had never talked. He or she has completely forgotten . . .

* The evidence you marshaled
* The arguments you used
* The fact that he or she ended up agreeing with the case you made

Jim Babka calls this the “The Rubber Band Syndrome.”

* Visualize yourself stretching a cartoon brain to a larger size
* Visualize the brain snapping back to it’s former shape as soon as you walk away

This Rubber Band Syndrome makes a mockery of our persuasion efforts. It causes us to waste time, energy, and money. But here at Downsize DC we consider it part of our mission to prevent wasted effort, to make difficult things easy, and to constantly accomplish more with less. That’s why . . .

We want to find a cure for The Rubber Band Syndrome.

Is there a cure? We think there is. In fact, we think there may be two cures . . .

Cure #1:

It seems clear to us that we have to equal the river of Statist propaganda that streams from every media outlet every day. One way to do that is something we talk about constantly . . .

Operation Everywhere.

For those who are new to this list, Operation Everywhere is our plan to reach a size that will enable us to make our ideas seen and heard by everyone, everywhere, every day. In other words . . .

We can solve the problem of minds that snap back to their previous dimensions as soon as our arguments are no longer being heard, by creating conditions under which our arguments are ALWAYS HEARD. This is clearly a full-proof solution to the problem, BUT . . .

It’s not an easy solution. Operation Everywhere will be hard to execute. It will take time to get there. So, this particular cure doesn’t meet one of our most important criteria . . . making difficult things easy. Which brings us to . . .

Cure #2:

This Oliver Wendell Holmes quote is very famous: “Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” But the experience we’ve all had with The Rubber Band Syndrome tells us that it’s actually very difficult to stretch a mind in such a way that it REMAINS EXPANDED. So what we need for Cure #2 is obvious . . .

* We need ideas that are so large and powerful that they do not allow the mind to shrink back to its former dimensions.
* We need ideas that EXPLODE the dimensions of the human mind to vast new boundaries.
* I call this kind of idea . . .

The Mental Depth Charge

You’ve probably had this experience too . . .

* You say something powerful to someone, but it seems to have no immediate effect
* Days, or months, or sometimes years pass, until . . .
* Eventually the person you said the powerful thing to comes to you and says . . . “I’ve only just now understood what you said way back when, and . . .

Understanding it changes everything.”

You see, your idea needed time to sink-in, just like a “depth charge.”

But for this to happen the idea has to be something that will actually stay in your friend’s mind for the time required, and not be popped out by The Rubber Band Syndrome.

We’ve all had these experiences. We’ve all laid mental depth charges in the minds of others, and had them placed in our minds too. Often these explosive ideas come about by accident, in the flow of conversation, but the trick we want to master is to create Mental Depth Charges by design!

This means we need a laboratory to conduct experiments, and a factory for production.

I have good news! If financing permits, we’re days away from unveiling our new factory/laboratory for creating Mental Depth Charges. This is the first of the 43 new tools we’ve promised to create, each of which is aimed at helping us to add at least 1 new net recruit per day to the Downsize DC Army. As you can see . . .

A new home for our non-profit educational organization, The Downsize DC Foundation!

To be clear, most days, the Downsizer-Dispatch comes from DownsizeDC.org, Inc. But this new project is part of the educational mission for the Downsize DC Foundation.

We’ve put our staff and vendors to work so that we can deliver this exiting new tool, quickly. Thus, part of the team needed to complete this project is is already hard at work. Now, we need to activate the rest of the team — and that’s YOU.

Organizational forward progress and timely delivery of this new tool requires about $6,400 in new income. Look . . .

* 2 people to give $1,000 = $2,000
* 4 to give $500 each = $2,000, bringing us to $4,000 total
* 4 to give $250 each = $1,000, bringing us $5,000
* 10 to give $100 each = $1,000, bringing us to $6,000
* And a few dozen 10s, 20s, and 50s to round us out at $6,400

The brief essay contained in this message is copyrighted by Perry Willis — (c) 2010. Permission to re-distribute or reprint this message for non-profit educational purposes is granted and encouraged, as long as proper attribution is given, and you provide a link to the original source. Permission to use this message for commercial purposes is denied.

If only other agency’s from more state’s were this thoughtful, and informed. Yes, I know, Whitetail Deer are the number one game animal hunted, but, I am, and always will be a dyed in the wool Mule Deer fan!

KREMMLING, Colo — The Colorado Division of Wildlife is preparing for a large study of buck mule deer survival in Middle Park to improve the Division’s ability to manage deer populations around the state through more informed modeling and harvest decisions.

The study plan will be explained by lead researcher Eric Bergman at a meeting of the Blue Valley Sportsman Club on Wednesday, Oct. 6. The public is invited to attend the meeting which will begin at 7 p.m. at the Blue Valley Sportsman Club.

Management of deer populations has become more complicated since the state responded to mule deer population declines by moving from over-the-counter deer licenses to limited licenses in 1999.

During the initial two to three years of the study, the Division will establish a baseline by monitoring mule deer in Middle Park. Then the Division will temporarily adjust the allocation of hunting licenses in the area in an effort to change the ratio of bucks to does in the herd. During this period, Bergman and his team of researchers will monitor the population to assess how the license allocation actually affects the population of deer in the area.

“It’s extremely important for managers to know if there are differences between survival rates of bucks, does and fawns when we manage herds for different objectives,” said Bergman. “For instance, in some areas we may be managing for a post hunt ratio of 45 bucks per 100 does while in other areas we may be managing for a post hunt ratio of 25 bucks per 100 does. We’ve learned that we can effectively accomplish this, but we don’t know if the over-winter survival of bucks under these two conditions is different.”

Those who are interested in hearing more about the research project are encouraged to attend the meeting on Oct. 6. The Blue Valley Sportsman Club is located 11 miles south of Kremmling at milepost 128.1 on Colorado Highway 9.
More information about the Division’s mule deer research may be found at:http://wildlife.state.co.us/Research/Mammal/Deer/